Device coverage policy
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
General Accounting Office plans to release a report on coverage decisions for new procedures and devices in June, in time to influence congressional debate over Medicare reform legislation, Health Care-Program Administration & Integrity Issues Director Leslie Aronowitz tells HHS secretary's regulatory reform committee in Washington, D.C. Jan. 7. Initiated by GAO, the study will examine the national coverage process, local carrier decisions, and the "hundreds and hundreds of [CPT and HCPCS] codes that get assimilated into the payment system without any formal [coverage] process. We need to understand the extent to which this happens and the rationale that underlies the different pathways," she says...
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GAO local/national coverage decisions report
Jan. 31, 2003 targeted as General Accounting Office's submission date to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Special Committee on Aging Chairman John Breaux (D-La.). The report will analyze local and national coverage trends for new procedures and devices (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 21, 2002, In Brief)...
Medicare local coverage
Preliminary data from two-year study of local coverage trends by University of Minnesota may be available "soon" for review by the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform, according to principal investigator Susan Foote. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study addresses causes of variation in local coverage and how long it takes different carriers to implement coverage. A General Accounting Office study on national and local coverage decisions is expected out in September (1"The Gray Sheet" Jan. 21, 2002, In Brief)...
MedPAC June Report To Congress Will Evaluate Medicare Benefits Package
MedPAC should evaluate the implications of national versus local coverage decisions on technology adoption before making a decision on the future of the Medicare benefits package, according to a panel of health policy experts